Title: Never Flinch

Author: Stephen King

Publisher: Hachette, 2025; RRP $34.99

Reviewed by: Jason Nahrung, Ballarat Writers Inc. Book Review Group

This is my first encounter with private investigator Holly Gibney, enjoying a run as a leading character after appearances of varied standing in other volumes. She is certainly able to carry the weight, given her serious powers of deduction tempered by a deep-seated mistrust of her own abilities.

The events in the Bill Hodges trilogy and other titles contribute to the backstory here, not just for Holly but a strong supporting cast, none of whom are the cardboard sidekicks or light relief one might expect in an ensemble performance. It’s quite the juggling act, keeping all the characters in play as they are caught up in two concurrent but converging storylines.

A serial killer is on the loose in the city of Buckeye, the motivation slowly revealed as King makes us front-seat passengers in an increasingly fraught spree. Notably, King knows how much to show to engage but not repel: we see that the killer is proficient, but there is no revelling in the minutiae of the killings – they are nasty, but not gory.

Holly, while brought in by detective pal Izzy as an unofficial consultant on the puzzling case, also signs up for a tilt as bodyguard to women’s rights campaigner Kate McKay, facing death threats on her latest tour. A tour that coincides with a concert by renowned singer Sista Bessie in Buckeye. Again, we are riding shotgun with the perpetrator and the victims, adding to the tension as unsuspecting bystanders are pulled into the twin plots. To his credit, King manages to not demonise the right-to-life politics that underpin McKay’s stalker, though there’s a list of murder victims in his afterword that reminds us that that movement has spawned its share of real-life killers.

Dave Musson delves into Holly Gibney’s appearances

@ YouTube

King’s mastery of character is to the fore as he manoeuvres his cast across the board, at times split-screening his scenes with updates on key characters at the hour of the day, two trains with their passengers heading for an inevitable, lethal collision. His use of the omniscient viewpoint allows backward glances and plenty of foreshadowing – perhaps a little too much; the momentum of the story doesn’t need a lot of teasers to keep the reader wondering what will happen next.

Such is King’s skill that ignorance of Holly’s other appearances didn’t feel to diminish the experience here, though some of the references to those adventures are tantalising. Unlike those intimations, there are no supernatural elements at play here (well, maybe just a wink) – rather, twisted human obsession and guilt, with a nod to dysfunctional families and the damage they can do. Rising above that, though, is the strength of the friendships in Holly’s circle: Izzy, compadres Barbara and Jerome, and the massive character of Sista Bessie, among others.

The book may take its title from the maxim of one of the bad guys, but it’s also pretty good advice for those encountering evil, and indeed the reader of the book: as horrible as some of the events are, we are in safe hands.

Review copy provided by the publisher.